Invoking the spirit of the Enlightenment, contributors from philosophy, politics, business, medicine, and other fields recognize that science exists and is conditioned by its social and political context, and that the attitude of society towards science is one of the most important determinants of the possibility that science can push forward the boundaries of knowledge for the benefit of humanity. The topics include the century of science and the culture of pessimism, the paternalism of the precautionary coalition, anti-vivisection and the culture of misanthropy, genetically modified crops and the perils of rejecting innovation, and skepticism and science as drivers of progress regarding climate change. Distributed in the US by International Publishers Marketing, Inc. Previously unavailable in the US. Annotation 2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
